Chapter 30 Charlotte's Thoughts

Charlotte comes from a family of servants. Her family has served the Ryntum family since Riz's grandfather is still alive.

According to her parents, Charlotte's grandparents were saved by Renault when they fled from Baroks Duchy in the south.

Apparently, the Duke of Baroks was a degenerate man at that time who liked to force young women to sleep with him.

Regardless they're married or not, as long as they are beautiful he will take it.

A lot of women have become his victims and many disfigured their faces to protect their chastity.

Beauty has become a curse in Baroks Duchy.

Some women who tried to fight back will find themselves being raped by a group of soldiers to death.

Despite all of that, they are powerless to do anything except escape. Knowing this would happen, the Duke strengthened his control at the border.

Those who are lucky may be able to escape, those who were not able to escape may find themselves in a situation where death is their best choice.

All women in Baroks only stay at home most of the time. Even if they go out, they will cover their face.

It's a tacit understanding between everyone in the duchy to help each other and hide their daughter's existence from the duke.

Duke's eyes are everywhere.

Some took advantage of the duke's personality to eliminate or get revenge on someone they don't like.

This is the case for Charlotte's grandmother.

Although she stayed at home most of the time, her beauty still spread to the surrounding villages.

She was so beautiful that it made the current duchess look like a peasant girl.

Many women are jealous of her beauty and many men try to pursue her.

The luckiest man that caught her eye is Charlotte's grandfather.

Soon, both of them got married. They were happy and loved each other. But that wasn't the case for everyone else.

Envy and jealousy turn into hatred.

Someone leaks the news about Charlotte's grandmother to the duke.

Hearing this, the duke ordered his soldiers to bring her to him. He likes taking other belongings as if he found pleasure in doing so.

Charlotte's grandparents quickly fled the duchy.

Their destination is Bideford.

They have heard about the benevolent stories of Lord Renault from a travelling merchant.

After a strenuous journey, they finally reached the border but they were still far from safe.

They hide and wait until night to cross the border.

They can't be too hasty. Most people always fail at critical moments.

In order to let his wife cross the border safely, Charlotte's grandfather disguises himself as his wife to attract soldiers' attention.

After his wife safely crosses the border, Charlotte's grandfather runs as hard as he can.

He spent all his energy to barely cross into the Bideford territory but the soldiers behind are still chasing him.

The soldiers were smiling when they saw a beautiful woman in front of them. They know that she is the woman the duke is looking for.

Their mind is already filled with the rewards that the duke has promised.

However, they were stopped by someone.

"Wait!! Which soldiers are you? What are you doing in my territory?", Renault was inspecting his border when he saw the chasing scene.

"My Lord, it is not our intention to trespass your border. We just want to take back our people who run away from the duchy", said the captain of the squad.

Renault takes a look at the couple and his eyes fall on the beautiful woman.

He understood everything.

"Your people? What proof do you have?", Renault asked.

The captain then said, "Everyone can literally see they just cross into your border."

"I didn't see it. You guys see it?", Renault played dumb and ask his entourage.

Everyone behind him shook their head.

The chasing soldiers were speechless.

Renault continues, "As you can see, nobody saw they cross the border. Now, go back to where you belong, don't disturb my people".

The soldiers can only go back.

"Thank you so much, My Lord. We're very grateful for your help", said Charlotte's grandfather.

"Now what are you going to do? You run away with nothing except food"

"We don't know yet, we are still thinking", Charlotte's grandfather embarrassedly said. To be honest, he only thinks about his wife's safety for the past few days.

"If that is the case, then come and work as a servant at my mansion"

....

Present day...

After receiving a task from Riz, she is walking through the hallway while thinking about Riz.

'Young master has changed', that's the impression she gets from Riz right now.

She noticed that her lord has changed ever since he came back from the Givry forest.

Lord Richard panicked when Riz didn't return. He instructs Charlotte to go and find Riz right away. His sister, Reina joined the search.

Charlotte has been assigned as Riz's personal maid as early as she was five years old. Except for Riz's parents, she is probably the one who knows him better than Reina.

Speaking of Reina, she has gone to the Caushilbo County to prepare for her wedding. She is going to marry with the heir of Count Caushilbo. Both of them meet each other during a banquet, held by the Countess of Tetherswest.

'That Countess sure loves banquets the most', Charlotte thought. She is the one responsible for holding numerous banquets just to announce the engagement between Riz and Theodora.

Charlotte felt bitter in her heart knowing that Theodora might challenge her position as Riz's closest person.

That's right, Charlotte knows that Riz only trusts her, his father and Edward.

Her lord has been a timid person since he was a child and hard to open up to others. After returning from the forest that day, she realizes that her lord now has trust issues.

Perhaps this happened because of the constant bullying by Robert and Maria due to his so-called commoner's blood.

Being mistreated is a norm in his life. Even so he never complained, he quietly endured those treatments. His parents are good to him and that's good enough for him.

However good things must come to an end. His mother died when he was twelve. It was a devastating blow for him. Since then, he has become gloomier and his face is full of sadness and misery.

She tried to cheer him up but to no avail.

Ever since coming back from the forest, her lord looks resolute as he has found his goal. There's no more gloomy atmosphere around him instead she can't read his emotion at all.

Not only that, her lord turns into a cruel person. He didn't hesitate to order the soldier to cut Maria's body into several parts.

Charlotte knows that Riz resents Maria but she is still his stepmother. He lived with her for years.

To chop her with no emotion at all makes Charlotte realize her lord sees the world differently now.

One day, her lord suddenly asks her for his money, and he keeps asking her about the guilds.

To her shock, her lord plans to start a business.

She doesn't know what business that her lord wants to do but she could only follow.

Charlotte watching Riz goes to the forest, finding trees and experimenting with it.

'What is my lord doing?', the question that is always lingering in her mind. She watches the whole process of making paper.

When the paper was completed, she was astounded by the product. She could see this product change society. However, it made her wonder just how Riz could possibly think of this idea.

Many things that her lord does are not extraordinary but creative. Things that people generally thought to be useless turn into something useful.

The trebuchets that her lord made took a slingshot to another level.

Just a moment ago, her lord ordered her to search for a soft rock that is easily scratched.

'He must have some weird idea again', Charlotte never complained about the task given but it doesn't mean she can't be curious about it.

Her lord starts to keep make this new stuff after he returns from the forest.

'What actually happen to my lord in the forest that day?', Charlotte keep asking in her mind, painfully aware that her can't get an answer to that question.

Maybe she wouldn't know the answer for the rest of her life.